The Thirteenth Apprentice
by Miss Prickles
Summary: On the day Sparda sealed Temen-ni-gru, she swore revenge. After the entrapment, will she still be able to fulfill her vow or ultimately fail?


Lucky Thirteen

Author's Note: This is my first attempt at writing a Devil May Cry fanfiction. This takes place between _3_ and _1_ and takes advantage of things that could have happened between the cutscenes in _3_ and _1_.

Since not much information is provided on the events that happened before _1 _(I'm aware of the DMC novel but it's been considered non-canon thanks to _3_), I've decided to add that to this fanfic's timeline coverage. This fanfic will also touch on the timeline created by _The Animated Series_ and may be considered slightly AU in some parts, though I tried my best to keep it as in-canon as possible.

In addition, I wrote this with the knowledge that those who will read it are already familiar with the series and its storyline. If not, I suggest checking out Devil's Lair before continuing. It's a good website that provides information on the Devil May Cry series, though it hasn't seen much updating from its webmaster as of this writing.

"Lucky Thirteen" is a reference to the fact that there is no thirteenth episode for _The Animated Series_ and thirteen is considered to be an unlucky number by many.

I hope you enjoy reading this fanfic and I've included footnotes for any possible questions that may arise. If not, simply send me a PM and I will try my best to answer your question.

Miss Prickles

' ' , open _italics _- thoughts

- . - . - . - . - . -

Finding the human was a risk. But it was one we had to take. Success for our side wasn't built without taking a few of them.

His interest in our arts was what caught our attention. We could hear his thoughts and dreams about becoming one of us clearly even before we found him. Of course, this was nothing special. Many humans have coveted our powers and even our very nature itself. But then his thoughts began to mention something that no human should have knowledge of - things that had been long forgotten by his kind.

Aiding us in our search was the discovery of one of the forbidden books inside an old church. It certainly narrowed down the number of places we had to check and the number of people we had to search through. Along the way, we pondered on what the human could be like: from what we sensed, the person was a young adult male.

We were expecting him to be a sorcerer with some basic powers or perhaps a gang leader with access to goons and money. Sorcerers were usually a pain to deal with because they were capable of fighting us with their magic, while gang leaders fared slightly better: they were willing to do whatever they were told as long as they can lord their authority over us.

What we found was a bald man with heterochromia.

We would have killed him in disappointment had it not been for a Harpy(1) that appeared and attacked him. It was then that we noticed he had a book in his hand - a special one, too. The damn thing managed to injure the human below his neck and face before we crushed its heart. Damn bitch.

To our surprise, he remained sitting on the ground, not with fear but with pure awe and wonder, as if he had never seen anything so wondrous in his life. A quick read of his thoughts told us that he was the one we sought. Then his bi-colored eyes were focused on us, expressing the burning question in his mind: were we demons too?

We smiled. "You don't have to worry about me, human. I didn't save you to kill you myself."

The human got to his feet. "So they do exist…" he breathed. A chuckle escaped our lips before we could suppress it.

"You silly humans… you're so quick to forget that we still exist when two thousand years ago the Dark Knight Sparda rallied for your pathetic lives. And here you are, gawking at me as if I have three heads like Cerberus," we replied.

"Cerberus? Are you referring to the same Cerberus that guards the Underworld for Hades?"

This time we had to laugh. "For a human who's never seen a demon before, you sure know how to make one laugh! And yes, I am speaking about the one and only Cerberus, though he is no guardian to the Underworld as some of your legends state.

Sheesh, you humans mustn't have been paying attention to your elders when it was time to pass the stories on, huh?"

The bald man smiled. "You seem to have a vast knowledge about the legends more than the books state," he remarked.

Now it was our turn to grin. We tilted our head slightly to the left. "So, tell me. What is a human like you doing with one of the forbidden texts?" we asked.

"Why would a demon be interested to know?"

_Ah, a challenge. This should be interesting…_

'Let's see what else we can draw out from him.'

"I was lured here by a strong desire for demonic power and it led to you. I must admit, you barely made an impression on me, human. I was expecting a little more than just a bald man with a book," we replied.

"I apologize for not meeting your expectations. Perhaps there is a way I can compensate," the bald man countered. He noticed us eyeing the tome he had and clutched it closer to his left side. The corner of his lips curved up in a satisfactory smile.

"You can start by giving me your name."

It was one of the golden rules amongst us: we have to know the names of any and all humans we dealt with. They were sacred to the higher-level demons: it was part of what provided us our power - to lose it would render us powerless(2).

The bald man looked at us testily.

_He must be aware of the sacredness of names to us. Just how much knowledge does he possess?_

'What's more troubling is it's hard to tell whether he's being cautious out of knowledge or out of instinct.'

"… Arkham."

We blinked. Arkham… quite a strange name but it was one nonetheless.

"Pleased to meet you, Arkham. You can call me Alurea."

- . - . - . - . - . - . -

Arkham stared at the dusty purple book on the table. "This is it?" he asked skeptically.

"This book will get you started," we replied, raising an eyebrow at him. "Why the long face? Isn't this what you wanted? To gain the power of Sparda and become a god?"

The human narrowed his eyes at the book, then at us. He briefly ran his hands over the cover of the tome as if testing its authenticity.

_The human's pride clouds his judgment. We've already gone through this before - he knows that he would be nowhere near where he is now if it weren't for us. Why does he act like we're not trustworthy with everything we provide?_

'His pride is fueled by disbelief. Can you blame him? If you were in his position you'd feel the same.'

"I've read countless volumes and visited numerous shrines. I've even conducted experiments on demon corpses to understand them better yet I am not closer to achieving the power you promised me!" Arkham argued.

We shook our head. "Patience, Arkham. Many of your predecessors lacked that trait and it cost them their lives untimely. This is all in preparation for what you're about to do because I can promise you this: you'd be praying for a quick death when you begin to put your knowledge to good use," we assured him.

He let out a deep sigh. "How much longer?" he asked.

"It won't be long now. And when that time comes, I must take my leave."

"Why?"

The surprise and worry in his voice made us glance over a shoulder. Had Arkham become too dependent on us to carry on his own? Or did he not expect us to abandon him when the time came?

"There are things I need to prepare for on my own. And I've taught you everything you wanted and needed to know, so it's up to you to carry on…

I know I've asked you this before, Arkham, but I need to know one last time: are you ready to sacrifice anything and everything for Sparda's power?"

Arkham stared at us and any trace of worry or surprise was gone. Even his voice showed it.

"Yes."

"I look forward to your success, then."

- . - . - . - . - . -

'He did it. He actually did it.'

_Why are you surprised? He was willing to get his face burnt the other day just so he could read more of the books we provided for him. _

'It's not that I'm surprised. For once, things are actually going the way they're supposed to. And I'm just stunned that he would really kill his wife for power.'

_Clearly, all the years that we've spent together has done nothing to dim your optimism about humanity._

We watched through the window as Arkham wiped his forehead of, presumably, droplets of sweat and blood mixed together as he stared at the dead body of his wife, Kalina Ann. He glanced in our direction and we nodded once in approval.

__So much like the humans before him who lusted for Sparda's power...__

'Well, it shows that Arkham's willing to be our bitch just as we pretend to be his.'

_You always have to be the optimistic one, don't you?_

'Were you hoping he would fail?'

_Someone's coming._

We jumped from our spot at the window and landed on the roof. We knelt on one knee, placed our hand against the cover and a red aura glowed underneath it.

"Oh my god… what did you do, Dad?" cried out a young female voice in our mind.

"A sacrifice had to be made today, Mary. Soon, I will attain the power of Sparda and become a god!"

"You're insane! You killed Mom! How could you do this?" Mary shouted angrily.

… _A daughter? Hm. I have to give the man his due credit for pulling that one off. _

'Do you think she'll be a problem to us?'

_Maybe, but I hope that fool knows we need her just as much as he needs us and Sparda's sons._

"I'm going to kill you for this!"

We heard feet running, accompanied by an anguished battle cry, only to be stopped midway. "Now now, Mary," Arkham spoke. "Don't be such a bad girl. I need you to stay alive and become strong."

"Damn… you!"

He chuckled. "I'll see you soon, my daughter. Try to stay alive until then," he said. There was silence for a brief moment before we heard the shattering of a glass window. We got up to our feet as Arkham appeared behind and turned around.

"Congratulations. You're one of us now."

Arkham acknowledged our greeting with a nod. "According to the tomes, Sparda sealed away Temen-Ni-Gru with his own blood, that of a priestess's, and the Perfect Amulet. How are we supposed to acquire the necessary items?" he asked.

"Sparda's sons shouldn't really be a problem. The older one will seek you out, so bargain your knowledge for his protection. If you have one, you'll have the other, but you need to make sure your daughter stays alive. I can't promise you that demons will avoid her because they will have a good reason to kill her when they discover what you've been up to."

- . - . - . - . - . -

When the earth rumbled beneath our feet, we knew it was time.

Our gambit on the human's desire to attain Sparda's power paid very well: the tower stands tall once again and, judging by the number of cowering humans running away from it, never ceased to instill fear at all.

However, that wasn't limited to the cowering humans who fled the area, thinking that their lives will be spared. The low-level demons who thought they would make their way to the top understood the return of Temen-Ni-Gru as a sign of their numbered days: many of them tried to crown themselves ruler of all the demons that lived on the human plane.

Now the risen tower serves to remind them that there is a Demon King they must all answer to for their insolence. And he wasn't the type who looked kindly on insolence and betrayal.

We could only hope that our lucky streak will continue, otherwise we're all going to pay.

- . - . - . - . - . - . -

Please be kind enough to rate and review this story! It means a lot to me to know how I'm doing and where I can improve.

Miss Prickles.

(1) A Harpy sounds more threatening than a Puia.

(2) According to the DMC manga, Arkham explained that names were important to demons - to take it away from them would be the equivalent of stripping them of their power.


End file.
